Author's Notes: Check it out, another author's notes within four chapters of each other. There's a few things that are supposed to be italic in this chapter, but I cannot figure out how to do that here (if anyone knows, please tell me). Basically, anything from the book is supposed to be in italics. Any resemblance that the elves have to any other fiction's elves is strictly coincidental as I have yet to read much stuff with elves. The race and individuals in the following are owned by Moirae. Thanks to those who have read and reviewed. If you are enjoying this, please let me know with a review. If you aren't, please let me know how it could be improved. Ooh, there's also quite a bit of information in the following chapter, so if something confuses you after you've read it, you can always ask me to clarify. Thank you :)


Chapter Eighteen : The Book of Elves



Sirius enters his chambers with the findings from Burke hidden deeply inside his robes, and carefully locks the door, placing the key on his dresser. In a swift motion, he kneels before the flames in the large brick fireplace, letting the warmth and the light wash over him.

He studies the book, which is rumoured to be made from human skin, although Sirius can't imagine that being the truth. It smells faintly of old spices and feels rough to the touch, and very dry. It's black and is decorated with golden metal, binding the pages so it cannot be opened by those whose eyes were never meant to see its contents. Taking the key Burke supplied him with, Sirius unlocks the book with a click.

The writing is in a language that is elegantly flowing; Sirius recognises it somehow, and he's even more amazed when he can read it. With a lump in his throat and a fire in his spirit, he flips over to the first section, entitled "Origins," and begins reading in a whisper:


Elves graced the land for centuries before humans were even a thought in their creator's mind. These creatures were exceptionally attractive and slender, with defined features, almond-shaped violet eyes, and pointed ears. They lived in peace and harmony on an island that has been long since sunken to the bottom of the ocean.

Humans pass on tales of a wonderful culture that met its demise by angry waves and vengeful gods, believing that it was only a myth, a children's bedtime tale. The land was known as Atlantis, elven tongue for beauty. When Atlantis was destroyed, the elves were forced from their home and travelled to a nameless land where the king of elves ruled that their brotherhood would take to four different continents so that, should a catastrophe as this happened again, their race would not vanish. The one clan divided into quarters, and with a king nominated for each, they departed towards the four directions. They adapted to living in the forests in Scotland, the northern glaciers of Canada, the tundra in Russia, or the deserts of Egypt. These four clans of elves were forever divided by their habitats, and soon by their principles.

The clan that took its home high in the trees was known as the Kalian. They lived as one with the plants and animals, respecting each life and spirit. The males and females both hunted with arrows, and they soon thrived with white magicks. Over the centuries, tribal tattoos were adopted and painted on the upper arms, and the male elves had a series of nine golden hoops in their right ears. Their clothing--blouses, skirts, trousers and shirts--were made by the elfmaidens from a weightless green or brown material.

Those who lived with the snow and frozen waters were called the Atika. The Atika ice fished for food and kept warm using thick furs from animals the men hunted. Elfmaidens sewed caribou hides into dresses, shirts and trousers, and crafted artic wolf and polar bear furs into cloaks. The teeth of the beasts, along with beads, were used as necklaces for decoration or to show the trophy of the hunt. The elfmaidens stayed at home, taking care of any offspring and the sled dogs acquired in trades. The Atika embraced the traditions of their neighbours, the Inuit, but fought against the tribes for land. Their skin tones darkened, and their hair was either black as the midnight sky, or brown as the hides made into their clothing.

The Atika were the only ones of the elves with the power to polymorph. The ability to turn into a white wolf with violet eyes was an hereditary gene. It's said that there were a few of the Atika who transformed into wolves, and never changed back--they roamed the artic of Canada. As for their brothers who remained in their elven form, the harsh environment was something that they couldn't adapt to and conquer, and eventually they met their defeat by the Inuit, who never knew that they weren't human. The wolf clan remains, to this day, a part of the wilderness of Northern Canada.

The elves that took to the tundra became to be known as the Moora. They were the ones who depended fully on their magicks, and compared to the Kalian they were a small tribe, consisting of less than two hundred elves with defined, sharp features. The elfmaids wore expensive jewellery--rings, necklaces, earrings and anklets--that they stole from the nobles of Russia, while the men bore no accessories. They never settled in one place; rather, they travelled the lands, terrorising those who crossed their paths, and burning all evidence. The Moora had few or no morals, seeking amusement through the pain of the humans, and eventually their cousins wanted nothing to do with them and made no effort to stop their destructive attitudes.

The last tribe was the Sesmar, and animal magick was their specialty. They grew to worship animals and easily communicated with them. They mixed white magick, black magick, and green magick, and soon tales of the Sesmar were alive in the Egyptian culture. Most believed them to be spirits that haunted the Pyramids of dead pharaohs, or even the gods themselves, and to be responsible for the curses of the tombs. The Sesmar created clothes from plant fibres, sometimes cotton. Like their cousins in the northwest, their skin tones darkened to compliment the hot summers and the mild winters. They wore tattoos, as the Kalian did, but these weren't permanent. Instead, Egyptian symbols were painted on with golden and black paint, the colours of royalty.


Sirius pauses, letting the information sink in. So deep are his thoughts, the one common trait that all elves share passes over him unnoticed. He shares the same violet eye colour as all elves, one would think that he'd notice this. But he doesn't, and he licks his index finger to turn the parched page, tilting the book and his body towards the live fire. He runs his hand through his hair and begins to read the passage entitled "End of Days."


The downfall of the elven race began in the tenth century, after living without the fear of death for several elven lifetimes. First, the Atika came to extinction when they couldn't adapt to the neighbouring tribes and overthrow the many Inuit warriors. Too proud to travel to a new land, they never witnessed their cousins become tainted with black magick, and they all died by the turn of the thirteenth century.

The Moora once knew the fine line between right and wrong, but in the early sixteen hundreds, they began to study books of dark magick purchased on the black market. They terrorised the countryside of Russia, plundering villages and burning humans at the stake. Most who met them were killed; those who weren't wished that they were.

Nearly two hundred and fifty years after their discovery of the evil magicks, a young elven couple happened upon a small child, who was left there by his parents for Death. They took in the boy, Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin, as he called himself, and raised him in the teachings of the dark arts. He was a natural, and at the age of forty, he had a stern control over the Czarina of Russia, Alexandra, and was offering her government advice. He regarded himself as a holy man, and the Czarina believed that he was sent from god to heal her son, Alexei. The actions of this dark elf-raised human would start a reaction that caused the fall of the Russian monarchy. The Moora watched idly as World War I erupted across Europe, and as Russia underwent a revolution. They were disappointed when the "good guys" won the war.

However, that disappointment was short-lived. The Great War ended on November 11, 1918; and on January 13, 1919, another young man sparked their destructive interests. He called himself Grindelwald, and the ruling king and queen of the Moora offered him unspeakable power in exchange for his vow to cause another disparaging war.

Grindelwald agreed but had his own agenda in mind.

He began to gather followers and more power, and at first, his attacks in Britain were small--a powerful wizard here, a Muggle family there. After long years of climbing the ladder of power and his ambitions growing stronger, Grindelwald achieved his aim in September or 1936. The name Grindelwald now struck fear in British wizards, and his followers were proud, for when Grindelwald brought on a new world, they would be the ones rewarded. Only three years after his rise, the alliances were fighting a war on two fronts, although only the Muggle one was known to all.

Grindelwald, who was once an esteemed wizard in the Wizarding World and a strong pole of influence in the Ministry of Magic, had one daughter. She was one of the most beautiful maidens that any man had ever set his eyes on, and she had several wizards courting her. Grindelwald loved his daughter dearly, and he promised her that she would rule at his side. She was a true Gryffindor at heart, though, and very wise; she never wanted anything to do with her father's evil deeds. The nineteen-year-old fled Britain in 1939 with her father's apprentice, Albus Dumbledore. It's highly speculated about where they went, for they left Britain and travelled south towards the barren lands of Egypt.

While this was happening, the Kalian were suffering with their own problems. A young, renegade elf was experimenting with the dark magicks, following in the destructive footsteps of the Moora. His name was Steel, the ruling king's nephew. After a horrible accident that cost a few dozen elves their lives, Steel was exiled. He sought out the Moora and Grindelwald for revenge on his uncle.

It was told that Steel arrived in Britain in 1940 with magicks that Grindelwald had a deep interest in. The Moora, however, did not favour this Kalian who had more power and esteem than they did. They formed several plots to execute Steel, but Grindelwald was on his side. The remaining of the Moora were met with most unfortunate deaths as Steel burned them alive with his extensive magicks.

Steel became Grindelwald's right-hand man, but knew not of the goal that he had in mind--the elven race at his feet. In a Book of Shadows that was recovered in 1945 by young Ministry Intern Tom Marvolo Riddle, Grindelwald wrote that with every life he took, he became more powerful. And with more power, he managed to perfect a spell that would bring the elven race to their knees. Grindelwald saw, for the first time in the elves, deceit, fear, betrayal, and evil. He happily used that to his advantage, and the wheels of his plan began to turn noisily.

In 1942, Grindelwald mysteriously disappeared, and the Wizarding World thought that their war was over. Cheers rose around the state of Britain, and Ministry Intern Riddle resigned with the thought of studying from a sage in the Middle-East. However, the war was three years from over, and their uplifting words were premature. When Grindelwald returned to Britain in 1943, he brought with him slaves he called house-elves, and a new sort of power he stole from the fallen race. The Wizarding World was beginning to fall to their knees, and they desperately needed a hero.

The house-elves were much different than the race they once were. Their life spans were very short; most died at the age of forty, although they were supposed to live till fifty-five. They still had their magic, although it could not compare to what they once possessed. Most Wizarding households that followed Grindelwald bought these slaves, and households that were against him soon found themselves accepting of these creatures that were mysteriously introduced into the world.

In 1944, more than six thousand people fell to Grindelwald's power, and in October, his daughter and former student, who was also his daughter's new love, returned. Having witnessed the downfall of the Sesmar by Grindelwald from behind a small pyramid, Albus Dumbledore was learning the secrets of the elf's power, secrets that his mentor would have never told him. He now believed that he could be the hero the Wizarding World sought.

In 1945, two victories were won by Grindelwald's opposers. Grindelwald was defeated by magicks unknown, and Germany surrendered to the allied forces after their leader, Hitler, committed suicide inside of a bunker.

Many other wizards and witches never questioned where the breed of house-elves came from. If they did, they kept it all behind closed doors and never in the history books. The elves are a reminder that good will always be corrupted. White will always mix into black, and no matter how much white is added back into the mixture, it will always remain grey.


Sirius closes the book but keeps his middle finger between the pages to mark his spot. For a race that was supposed to be a myth, drifting through the lives of humans unseen, the Moora sure had a lot of influence in the first half of the twentieth century.

Inhaling deeply, he reopens the book and pauses, considering skipping over the photos. But he decides not to, as one catches his eye. It appears to be of himself, a younger version of him, granted, but the resemblance is uncanny. The writing under the sketch tells that this dark elf--the black hair, violet eyes, mischievous smile, and boyish charm--is none other than the infamous Steel. All that's missing is the goatee since elves cannot grow facial hair.

Uncomfortable shivers run down Sirius's spine as he hurriedly flips past the pictures and into a small section of writing, the smallest in all of the book. This one is titled "King Kircan of the Kalian."


The Kalian kingdom was unlike any other elven kingdom on the Earth. The queen ruled for five hundred years without a king and bore two children--Kircan and Valora--before her death. Prince Kircan was the youngest, and quite the adventurer. Princess Valora was one hundred years older than Kircan and would have been queen of her people if not for her disappearance in the late twelfth century. The royal family never suspected foul play, for Valora left on her own terms after the birth of her son, with a note remaining in her bedchambers about a great evil that was spreading over the Earth. She was being called to record it all.

King Kircan, young archer and revered white magick user, began his reign around 1720 AD at the age of 213, after his mother died of old age. He ruled without a queen for approximately 160 years, until he met a beautiful human maiden, Mabel, in 1879. Kircan fell in love with Mabel at first sight, and Mabel became the first human to set foot inside of the Kalian kingdom.

The Kalian finally had a queen, but they never trusted her. Although they respected their king's decision, they never took a liking to Mabel, and thought their king foolish to fall in love with her. Mabel ruled by his side till she died fifty years later; no known magick could extend her life, and Kircan knew again the pain of loss.

In Mabel's life she bore one child, a male whom they called Apollo. Apollo was the first half-breed. His eyes were violet, but his ears were not pointed, which was very unusual, as elven genes were dominant over those of a human. His lifespan was considerably shorter than the elves, and he aged quickly, as humans do.

Apollo was nineteen human years old when he left the forests of Kalian in search of adventure and fortune. He travelled to Britain, where World War I was about to begin. Apollo stayed there for nearly two decades, as he fell in love with a human witch. But shortly after his first son was born, Grindelwald and Steel murdered Apollo in cold blood.

When Grindelwald arrived in the vast forests of the Kalian in 1942, the elves protected themselves with magicks and arrows, but it was no stand against the dark magicks of Grindelwald. The elven clan was forever transformed with dark magicks, and only one elfmaiden escaped--Valora, who was never in the Scotland forests again. Grindelwald and her son, Steel, never knew of her existence. Kircan had told Steel as a child that his mother died in childbirth.


An account on the wizard bloodline with elven genes will not be recorded, but it is foreseen that Apollo's son will have a daughter, who will marry a well-known wizard by the surname of Black.

And it's signed, Valora, princess of the Kalian, and watcher of the races.


Sirius closes the book slowly without bothering to continue reading.